Kevin Pietersen still hopeful of scoring 10,000 Test runs; regrets textgate

Kevin Pietersen

Despite the fall out with England Cricket Board and national team captan Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen still believes that he will get a chance to break 10,000-run mark in Test cricket. The out-of-favour South African-born Englishman has scored 8,181 runs in 104 Tests, so far.

Pietersen, who was made the scapegoat of England’s disastrous Ashes tour earlier this year, represents the IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils, captaining them this time around, and is in Delhi now as a part of IPL preparatory camps. On if he has still set his sights on getting past 10,000 runs, he said: “Yes, maybe I’ll still get to 10,000 (Test runs).”

When queried about his relationship with former England captain Andrew Strauss, something that he strained by sending messages to South African players with the intention to malign Strauss’ image, the 33-year-old expressed his regret for having done that.

Speaking about that textgate scandal which happened back in 2012 during South Africa’s tour of England, he said: “Andrew Strauss is a great friend. I was just in a bad space. We were not having a great relationship at that time. It should never have come out, all that nonsense. That wasn’t a special time at all.”